The difference this year for Tornado Alicia Black is expectations.
Creating a buzz at last year’s U.S. Open by making it to the final of the girls’ singles tournament — along with her given name of Tornado, and her sister named Hurricane — Black advanced to the third round on Wednesday with a win over 16-year-old Viktonia Kuzmova of Slovakia 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
“Last year I had to have a wild card to get into the main draw and I wasn’t excepting myself to get into the finals,” said the 16-year-old Black. “This year, I think people are expecting me to win it, but I’m not paying attention to that. I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
Black lost in qualifying for the women’s draw, and yet isn’t putting too much pressure on herself to succeed at the junior level.
“I can’t win always,” said Black, who has earned $7,231 in the two WTA events she did enter this season, losing in the first round in both.
“The pros, they win a Grand Slam and they’re expected to win the next year and they lose in the first and second round. It’s not the end of the world.”
Martina Hingis, the five-time Grand Slam winner in women’s singles, advanced to the semifinals of the doubles draw with partner Flavia Pennetta. Hingis, 33, last won a Slam at the 1999 Australian Open.
Pennetta, the 11th seed in the singles draw, lost in straight sets to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals Wednesday night.
There hasn’t been much rain at the Open but there has been plenty of heat. It has been so bad at times, that before Wednesday’s matches, the new heat rule already had been put into effect four times.
The rule, new for 2014, involves the temperature on court being taken each day at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., following rain delays, and before the night matches. If the temperature on court exceeds 30.1 degrees Celsius, (86 degrees Fahrenheit), players get a 10-minute break between the second and third sets. The rule is only in effect for women’s singles matches and all juniors. It’s not in effect for men’s singles or doubles of any kind.
On Aug. 27 and Aug. 31, the heat rule went into effect prior to the start of women’s matches at 1 p.m., causing a 10-minute delay. This week, on both Monday and Tuesday, it again was put in effect prior to the start of the days’ matches at 11 a.m.
Scott Lipsky, native of Merrick, Long Island, is making a men’s doubles breakthrough as he and new partner Rajeev Ram advanced to the men’s doubles semifinals. But the duo will face the top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan in the first match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium day card.
Lipsky, who said he has had about 45 partners in his career, is ranked 48th in the world in doubles.
Like her buddy Caroline Wozniacki, Williams is now in the marathon business, too.
Williams announced she will stage her first Quarter Marathon and 5K — the Serena Williams Ultimate Run — Dec. 14 in Miami. It will begin at the famed Clevelander Hotel on Ocean Drive in South Beach and wind through the Art Deco district.
The event will benefit the Serena Williams Foundation and be followed by a charity black-tie gala at the St. Regis Bal Harbour. The gala will raise money specifically for education and families who are victims of violence.
Williams plans to run in the event, which also will include a kids’ run. Williams said Wednesday through a spokesman: “My fans and the world watch me play on the courts all the time, and this is an opportunity for all people to come together and run on behalf of kids and the special causes that make their futures brighter. … We’re all competing with the same goal at the finish line.’’
According to Marilyn Crawford, interim CEO of Serena Enterprises, Williams hopes to stage more road races around the country.
Wozniacki will be running the New York City Marathon for charity.
— Additional reporting by David Satriano and Marc Berman